Checking out the wildlife

It's always fun to see wildlife while out and about. But when that doesn't happen (which is usually the case) seeing signs of wildlife is just as fun. 

I get mocked often for my fascination with scat...but here you go anyway.

Moose scat

About an inch long

And in another location, some tracks. These aren't as big as other moose tracks I've seen. I suppose they could have been elk.

October in the Wasatch Mountains

The weather has been beautiful. We did have some snow early in the month, but that didn't seem to damper the beauty. There is still some great color in them hills.

My job sometimes requires (allows) me to get out on the trails to work on signs, or scout out a route for an upcoming tour. I had that chance a couple of times this past few weeks. I just wanted to share some of the beauty.





I was listening to an NPR broadcast about the need for play in the lives of children. Without it they loose their sense of wonder, curiosity, and imagination. I think that is one reason I love being out in nature - because there is always something wonderful to see or discover. It's okay to let yourself become lost in wonder.

Spring

Next week, March 20, is the first day of Spring. I am looking forward to the warmer weather. As it is, we still have snow here at the park, but it's melting pretty quickly.

Yesterday I followed some mouse tracks as it tried to find a way back under the thin layer of snow. It meandered for quite a while across the snow, when the tracks suddenly came to an end at a place where a bird's body mark intercepted it. Then just a few feet away, a small blood spot with marks from a bird's wings told the end of that mouse's story.

Today as I arrived to work, there were sounds of spring everywhere. Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, Collared Doves and more, were singing out, hurrying spring along.

I have what I think will be my last snowshoe tour this morning. We'll have to go up the canyon a few miles to get some good snow. When I took a group up that way last week, we came across a well scavenged deer carcass with coyote tracks coming into it from all directions.

Life. Death. Nature in Balance. It's a good thing.

Dinner at the Golf Course

Welcome to the All-You-Can-Eat Golf Course Cafe! We're glad you could join us today. Our special this evening is Wild Turkey. Fresh and plump, right out of the field.

You do the killing, plucking, and chopping. We'll provide the perfect location with incredible views and easy access. The snow is deep, the Turkeys are plentiful.

Turkey Dinner #1

Oh still hungry? Well, we have more where that came from. Help yourself. And bring your friends.

Turkey Dinner #2

The guests tracks (top of picture) can be seen around the dinner plate. Maybe two different patrons. While something a bit smaller visited as well (prints at the left of picture).

My first guess was coyote. But later as I was approaching a third kill site, I saw what looked like a bobcat dart off into the bushes leaving its dinner behind.

Fun stuff.

Short-tailed Weasel (Ermine)

Last week I wrote a little about looking for signs of weasels. I found one decent set of tracks during that outing. But as I took two women out on a snowshoe tour earlier today I was hoping to find a few more good weasel tracks.

I wasn't disappointed. And whether they liked it or not, these two women got an earful about weasels, and how to identify their tracks. By the end of our hike, they were pointing out the weasel tracks themselves. I was so proud.

Weasels are bounders. Their back feet register almost directly over where their front feet were. The front feet land, then the front feet come up again just before the back feet land. As they bound, looking, searching, smelling, listening for mice, voles and shrews, they leave behind a wonderful story in the soft snow.

We followed several sets of weasel tracks until they disappeared into shrubbery, or a small hole in the snow. In the image above, you can see the varying distances between each of the bounds as it moved across the snow.

As I was reading through a Project WILD Newsletter focused on Weasels I found the following statement very amusing: "ounce for ounce [weasels are] probably the most efficient killers of all carnivores." I love that. Here are these small, powerful, hyperactive little predators that often move in ways that reflect an ADHD mind, cute as can be, and yet deadly, even to prey much larger than themselves.
We saw many, many little weasel tracks but the set shown above was by far my favorite. It's picture perfect for weasel tracks. One short bound, followed by one very long bound, followed again by a short bound where a slight drag mark can be seen (if the snow was deeper, this would have created the dumbbell shape print), and it just continues: long bound, short bound with drag mark, long bound, short bound...and on. I'm sure I spent more time at this particular set of tracks than my guests enjoyed. I just wish I'd had a measuring tape with me. I really must remember to make that a part of my standard snowshoe equipment from now on.

I wish I could say I took this picture, but this one was taken by one of our rangers. In winter, both short-tailed and long-tailed weasels turn pure white, except for their black-tipped tail. In summer, they are reddish brown on their backs, and cream colored on their bellies. Generally nocturnal, they are very rarely seen. But they can be smelled. They are one of the "musky" ones! Like skunks, they have well-developed scent glands which produce a thick, oily, foul smelling fluid, that they use, among other things, to mark their territory.

I didn't smell anything today. But I won't give up on that possibility during some future outing.

Tracks

I've been putting together a program about weasels. I mean Long-tailed and Short-tailed Weasels, not the ones sharing office space with you.

Anyway, I needed to find some examples of weasel tracks, specifically short-tailed weasels, because they leave such a distinctive pattern. As they bound, they usually take one long bound, followed by a shorter bound. The shorter bound is often connected by a drag mark, creating a "dumbbell" print.

So I headed out into the park to try and find some weasel prints. The day was beautiful. I went up to the campground, where I often find several tracks of many different animals from rabbits to moose.

There were many old tracks, not worth stopping for. The first good track was that from an unidentified rabbit. Probably a Cottontail, but I didn't take any measurements to verify that. Nice, clear, clean tracks.



There were quite a few tracks of domestic dogs whose owners let them off leash to just run and play. They were everywhere. That may be why there weren't many signs of other animals.

Finally at the top of the loop I was taking, I found these.


One short little section of unmistakable weasel tracks. You can see its little feet imprints at the bottom of the picture, followed by a long space, then a drag mark, followed by another long space, and another drag mark as the weasel bounded off into the bushes.

It wasn't the most ideal location to find them. I was hoping for something more like the rabbit tracks. But it's a good start. I'll keep looking.